1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for making a carbon nanotube based composite.
2. Description of Related Art
Carbon nanotube composited with metal particles is becoming a hot research subject. Carbon nanotube is an ideal metal particle catalyst carrier for the large surface area and high electric conductivity. The composite having the carbon nanotubes composited with the metal catalyst has shown great promise of use in fields of electrochemical cell, fuel cell, and biomedicine.
When using the composite as a catalyst, the uniformity and amount of the metal particles loaded and dispersed on the surface of the carbon nanotubes directly influence catalytic performance of the composite. Typically, the catalytic performance of the composite increases with the amount of metal particles that are loaded. However, metal particles easily aggregate when the amount of the metal particles loaded increases.
The composite is commonly fabricated by physical methods or chemical methods. Metal particles are sputtered on the surface of the carbon nanotubes by physical methods. Chemical methods include colloid method, solution reduction method, immersion method, electrochemical deposition method, or supercritical fluid method. However, it is difficult to have a balance between the loading amount and the dispersing uniformity of the metal particles on the surface of the carbon nanotubes with the methods mentioned above.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a method for making a carbon nanotube based composite having a relatively high loading amount of the metal particles which meanwhile having the metal particles well dispersed.